


tryin' to find a place i belong

by GreenMuffinRanger (FuzzyPurplePenguins)



Series: Adventures in Writing AUs at 3 am with Muffins [2]
Category: Power Rangers Dino Charge, Power Rangers Jungle Fury
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, M/M, Riley is Not-So-Secretly My Favorite Character, Spirit Animals, The Pai Zhuq Way, team coming together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-17
Updated: 2015-03-17
Packaged: 2018-03-18 07:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3562028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FuzzyPurplePenguins/pseuds/GreenMuffinRanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before he finds the green energem, Riley studies under Pai Zhuq masters. After, he and the others come together as a team and build romantic relationships.</p>
<p>("You have much ahead of you, Riley," Master Lily says. "May you overcome the obstacles in your path.")</p>
            </blockquote>





	tryin' to find a place i belong

**Author's Note:**

> This took me three days to write, roughly, which is a long time for oneshots for me usually. /sigh. 
> 
> Thanks to the Council (nut, cait, Mo, wild, & blue) for listening to me ramble and cry about this fic, and for helping me decide what to make Shelby and Kendall’s spirit animals.
> 
> This is an AU, obviously, tied together with Jungle Fury, even though the only JF characters mentioned are Casey and Lily. I meant to include the others but that didn’t happen.
> 
> Enough rambling; enjoy~!

When Riley is ten, his twenty-year old cousin Casey joins a super-secret martial arts sect.

Four years later, at fourteen, Riley follows after, a novice at Pai Zhuq.

Master Lily, his teacher, looks at him and smiles a rare, secretive smile. "You have much ahead of you, Riley. May you overcome the obstacles in your path."

(The young brunette doesn't find out what she means, not for three years.)

Six months into training, Casey pulls him aside.

"I'm proud of you," He says, ruffles Riley's hair, which makes the Griffin pull a face. "Have you found your spirit animal yet?"

Riley shakes his head, biting at his lip and visibly frowning. Sometimes he can feel it at the edge of his mind, a soft caress that disappears if he tries to focus in on it.

"It takes time," Casey says. "We're not allowed to tell you your animal anymore, it's one of the tests but...yours will be more helpful to you then you could ever know."

"Great in theory, but they keep skirting away everytime I try to coax them out."

His cousin smiles. "If you think about all the puzzle pieces, Ri, I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough."

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

But he doesn't - his spirit animal remains shy, pressing up against his mind only when he needs it the most.

It's aggravating, but Riley learns to work with it, the green blasts he releases when he unleashes his animal fuzzy and nothing more than a blur, but real nonetheless.

Despite his inability to pin down his own inner spirit, Riley becomes a master at figuring out the animals of others; sometimes he doesn't even need to speak to anyone, just sees their animal padding after them or perched on heads or shoulders.

"It's a unique ability," Lily tells him on his day of graduation-still without a clear picture into his own head-and smiling like she knows a big secret, a yellow cheetah curled around her feet. "Use it wisely."

"Thanks, Master Lily," He says truthfully, and then Casey's leading him off to drop him back off at the ranch.

(When he looks at his cousin, Riley only gets brief glimpses of a tiger, flashing across his face.)

**_xxxxxxxxxxx_ **

Matt smiles at him when he practically tumbles out of Casey's car three hours later, Rubik racing down the hill and jumping on him.

"Heeeeey buddy!" Riley grins, kneeling down and scratching Rubik's ears.

Out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of another dog, jerks his head up and peers at the ethereal grey blue heeler laid at Matt's feet.

Then Rubik woofs and the brunette turns his attention back to his dog.

His mom, with a black-and-white warbler perched on her shoulder, invites Casey to stay for dinner, and Riley smiles.

He loved Pai Zhuq, but being home is amazing in of itself.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

A few months later, he picks up a (practice) sword and it feels right in the way the few weapons at Pai Zhuq hadn't.

He swings it around a couple times, with extreme caution, and the green hum in the back of his mind brightens up, warmth spreading through his body.

"Guess I found my weapon," Riley mutters. It's a bit unconventional for a practitioner of the Pai Zhuq way, but he's not sworn as deeply into their codes as Casey is.

He studied for just under two years. He's in no way a Master.

Rubik barks, and the brunette sighs and plants the practice sword in the dirt. "Don't worry, I'll still make time for you buddy."

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

The green gem glows, warping the bar he'd been holding to defend Rubik into a proper sword, and his body lights up, green energy flashes across his body.

He stares at it dumbfoundedly for a second before whipping around and dueling against the hideous monster threatening his life.

He and Rubik manage to escape with the precise placement of a falling tree branch, and as the brunette holds the gem his mind explodes first with an image of a velociraptor, and then, forming clearly, is an image he's been trying to see so hard for three years.

"Oh," He says, and his animal tosses it's head back, fades to the back of his mind.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

His mom sighs when he says he wants to go live with Casey, continue training and study at the dinosaur museum in Amber Beach, but just pulls him into a hug and wishes him well.

"Dinosaurs?" Matt asks, eyebrows raised, and Riley smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

"You know me Matty," He says as vaguely as possible. "Tied in with nature, with the forces of the universe."

Matt looks so confused, but Riley just turns around, says good-bye to Rubik, and motors away on the old mint green scooter.

**_xxxxxxxxxxx_ **

"You need a lift?" The one in the red shirt asks, and Riley darts his eyes to the back seat.

A Eurasian lynx, tinged red, is curled up in the back with a tony t-rex perched on his head. Standing next to the Jeep, looking proud and occasionally shaking out her mane is a pink-tinted majestic Clydesdale horse, also complete with a tiny dinosaur, this time a triceratops.

A soft nudge in his mind steels his resolve, and so he smiles, tucks the manual in his bag, and says, "Yeah, that would be great."

"I'm Tyler, and this is Shelby," The other male says, and then after they'd toed the scooter to the back of the Jeep, rescued a man from an exploding car that they had flipped into the air, and all pulled out the same gems, just in different colors; "Are you by any chance going to the dinosaur museum?"

Well, he's not entirely wrong.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

The lab is full of animals.

As soon as they're in the lab, the t-rex and triceratops belonging to Tyler and Shelby grow, not to full size but to the size of an average wolf, and they go waltz off to join a stegosaurus and a parasaur napping in the corner.

There's a flash of green in the corner of his eye, and Riley tunes out Miss Morgan's speech as his own velociraptor appears and joins the pile, practically snuggling up to the parasaur.

The green ranger goes bright red, and promptly looks anywhere but at the black ranger-Chase, according to Shelby, while the blue ranger is named Koda-who is looking at him.

There's a soft hoot, inaudible to untrained human ears, and Riley watches as a black-banded owl, colored with hints of purple, swoops down from the ceiling and lands on Kendall's shoulder.

A grizzly bear ambles out of a cave, sitting away from them but with one eye on Koda, and a dingo twines around Chase's legs.

_We're home,_ is the feeling Riley's getting from his own spirit, so when Tyler says, "I'm Tyler, and I'm all in!" and everybody else looks his way, he says, "This all sounds...crazy. But I'm in too."

Chase claps his shoulder and the dingo presses against his leg, presses her nose to the flank of Riley's spirit, and they're all off.

"Shelby?"

Well, maybe not yet.

The pink ranger looks a little uncertain, and even her horse is shifting on her feet. "I don't know. I'm just a waitress. How can I save the world?"

Miss Morgan says something almost scathing, which has Shelby's horse stepping back, nostrils flaring as she rears onto her hind legs.

Riley smiles, already knows what she's going to say before she says it.

"I may just be a waitress, but I know more about dinosaurs then all of you! You need me!" She huffs and makes her way over to the charging station.

Tyler has to stay put - something interfering with his energem - but the rest of them run towards the seismic activity, their spirit animals running - or galloping - after them, and Riley can't help but grin.

_We're home, indeed._

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

"I see you recognize your own spirit now," Casey says when he opens the door to his house, to see Riley grinning at him with a clearly defined shape behind him.

The green ranger glances back behind him, reaches up and rubs his hand over his spirit's head, who bows it further to accept the pets before disappearing in a poof of green smoke. "Yeah. I had a little help though."

Casey raises an eyebrow as Riley walks into the living room, drops his bag on the floor. "Oh, yeah?"

Miss Morgan said no one was to know, but it's a little different telling your older cousin who happens to be a former ranger that you're now part of the legacy then your civilian brother.

Riley lifts his energem out from where it's tucked below his neckline. "My power source."

Casey blinks his eyes, then sighs and shakes his head. "I saw the footage," He beckons the younger male into the kitchen. "You're going to make an excellent ranger, Ri."

Riley beams, tucks the energem back under his shirt, and follows after his cousin.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

It doesn't take Riley long to notice something that makes his heart beat a little faster.

Chase likes him.

The black ranger's always grinning at him, elbowing him playfully and letting his hands rest on Riley's body longer than necessary when patting him on the back.

The smiles Chase gives him, the soft looks when the black ranger thinks nobody's looking.

And that's not even to mention the real clues, the one's Chase doesn't even realize he's giving out.

His spirit.

Whenever Riley gets to work in the morning, the dingo's there, stepping around his legs and rubbing her head against the green ranger's shins, making a contented sound in her throat. When they decide to have a movie night and all curl up on the couch in the Dinolair together, Chase's dingo curls up at Chase's feet but rests her head on Riley's feet.

Then Riley notices he's sending the signals back.

He's finding excuses to touch Chase as well, grinning dopily whenever the black ranger glances his way, and his spirit always curls up with the dingo during their cuddle sessions, watching over Chase with a watchful, but kind eye.

So even when they're fighting, when Riley sees Chase at the monster's mercy, clutching his jaw in pain, he can't help himself.

The motions come fluid to him, like he hasn't been away from Pai Zhuq more than a week.

"CALL TO THE ANIMAL INSIDE! SPIRIT OF THE DEER!"

His spirit erupts in a green blaze, head lowered with his antlers reaching out menacingly, and charges down the street, pushing Cavity back and away from Chase.

Riley hurries to the black ranger's side and helps him to his feet. "You alright?" He asks as his deer paces around them in a circle, guarding them.

"What the hell was that," Chase asks, and his dingo flickers to life, just in the corner of Riley's eye.

"I trained in more than just swords before I joined the team, let's just leave it at that for now," Riley says, unable to help himself from squeezing Chase's hand before whipping out his sword. "Just get back, I'll protect you until the others get here."

His deer presents his antlers to Chase's dingo, almost proudly, and Riley rolls his eyes.

"Guys, duck!" Tyler's voice says, and Riley grabs Chase's hand and pulls him out of the way, just in time for Cavity to be hit by the blasts of Shelby, Koda, and Tyler's blasters.

His deer makes one last challenging stance before disappearing.

"Explanations later," Riley assures them. "It's Morphin' Time."

They all nod, and pull out their chargers, making it through the morph sequence despite Chase's pain and struggles.

Later, as they stand in the megazord and watch Cavity explode into tiny pieces, Riley's stomach squirms happily as Chase fist bumps him and Tyler does his usual post-battle happy dance.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

"You're a member of the Order of the Claw?" Kendall asks as soon as they all get back to the Dinolair.

"I was trained by them for two years," Riley corrects. "I'm not a master."

"I'm impressed," Kendall tells him.

"Okay, what is happening?" Shelby asks, and her horse stamps her hooves.

So Riley explains his two years studying under masters of the Pai Zhuq martial art - which included Casey, his ability to summon his spirit animal in battle, and to see the spirit animals of other people.

"Wait," Tyler says. "Do we have spirit animals?"

Riley casts a glance down at the lynx at the red ranger's feet, tail swishing and rolling his eyes at Tyler, and covers a smile with his hand. "Yeah, you guys do."

"What's mine!" Shelby asks, looking very excited and curious.

"I'm not supposed to tell you," Riley says. "Tradition of the Pai Zhuq."

Shelby frowns. "Can I get a hint?"

"Yeah! Hints!" Tyler instantly agrees with his girlfriend (and hadn't that been a surprise a month prior, walking in on the two of them making out while the lynx napped and Shelby's horse standing watch). "And we can guess?"

"You're supposed to find out by training hard-" Riley starts, biting his lip.

"I want train!" Koda says excitedly.

"You all train hard enough as it is to beat Sledge, I don't know if we can fit extra training in your schedules," Kendall frowns.

"C'mon guys," Chase says, slinging an arm around Riley's shoulders. "We can't have Riley break his order's rules, can we?"

Riley glances up at him in surprise, but Chase just grins and doesn't remove his arm.

"It would be awesome to learn another style!" Tyler says, and Kendall's trying to explain martial arts to Koda, who just went from excites to confused.

Riley sighs as he watches Tyler's lynx get up, walk over to Shelby's Clydesdale, and jump nimbly onto her back.

"I'll call my cousin," He sighs, still hyper-aware of Chase's arm against his shoulders.

They all cheer.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

Koda adapts to the Pai Zhuq art incredibly quickly.

It only takes a month of weekend sessions with Casey at the track, sprinkled with sessions during the week at the museum (something Kendall had objected to until Riley spilled the beans that Case was a former ranger and knows about them) until Koda knows what his spirit animal is, can see it.

"You guys been practicing?" Casey asks, and the caveman beams.

"I bear!"

Chase, Tyler, and Shelby all whip their heads around, and Riley grins at the bear behind Koda, who also has a proud look on his face.

"Well, I can't say it doesn't fit," Chase laughs, claps Koda on the shoulder.

"Good job, Koda," Riley says. "I knew you could do it."

"Yours fit too," Koda tells the other three, and the cousins both laugh.

"You can see other's animals like Riley?" Tyler gapes.

"Only close to...me," Koda nods. "Not...other."

"It's his instincts, I think," Riley pipes up. "He's hyper aware of us."

"Which will makes you an excellent team in battle," Casey cuts in. "Koda, why don't we practice summoning your bear to aid you?"

Riley turns back to the others, who look disappointed. "You'll find yours, guys."

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

A month and a half later, Shelby comes tearing into the Dinolair.

"I have a horse!" She says, and stares at the Clydesdale standing watch over her.

Tyler grins, winks at her and reaches down to pet the lynx at his feet. "About time, babe."

Shelby huffs and sticks her tongue out at her boyfriend.

Riley looks over at the black ranger, nudges him because he's frowning. "Hey. It took me three years. You'll get there.

The dingo is pouting too, nose tucked under her paws and body language screeching for people to back off.

"I'm impatient," Chase says, and Riley hesitates half a second before half leaning against the other male.

The black ranger tenses, but doesn't move, and so Riley says again, "You'll get there."

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

"You and Chase. You two," Shelby tells him during lunch maybe a week and a half later. "Have some serious UST going on."

Riley glances up, surprised. "What?"

"Oh, come on!" She exclaims. "We're not dumb. We all see the way you and Chase look at each other."

Riley's cheeks flush deep red, and he burrows into his sweater, twirling a fry between his fingers. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Liar, liar, pants on  _fiiirrreee_!" Shelby sings. "Come on, what's holding you back? Chase is so bisexual it hurts, and you. Well, I mean you're clearly not straight."

"Thanks Shel," Riley groans, drops the fry, then his head into his hands.

"Look, all I'm saying is if Koda can pluck up the courage to woo Kendall-"

"Wait, that's what he's been doing?"

"-you can tell Chase you're interested, and really,  **don't** interrupt me Rileykins."

"Shel, wait. Koda is  _courting_  Kendall?"

Shelby sighs loudly. "Seriously, do you pay any attention at all to things that go on around here?"

Riley throws a fry in her direction.

**_xxxxxxxxxx_ **

Chase's dingo is staring at him.

Riley bites his lip as she turns her head towards Chase, relaxed on the couch with headphones in, and then back at him, an unimpressed look on her face.

"I know," He says, and crosses the lab until he's standing in front of the black ranger.

Chase smiles at him, pulls an earbud out. "What's up, mate?"

"Can I join you hotshot?" Riley teases lightly.

"Yeah, sure," Chase scoots over and the green ranger collapses next to him.

Several minutes pass in silence before Riley says, "Chase."

"Hmm?" The black ranger looks over.

Riley kisses him.

There's a brief beat of Chase unresponsive next to him, and then the New Zealander's tugging him into his lap, biting Riley's lower lip and tangling his fingers through light brown hair as the green ranger moans.

When they finally part, Chase is smirking a bit and Riley's panting.

"Yeah?" The black ranger asks, and Riley nods.

"Yeah."

Chase grins, and moves to pull Riley close again, but stops.

"Is that a dingo?"

**_~fin_ **

**Author's Note:**

> In case it wasn't clear enough:
> 
> Riley - (male) fallow deer  
> Chase - (female) dingo  
> Tyler - (male) eurasian lynx  
> Shelby - (female) clydesdale horse  
> Koda - (male) grizzly bear  
> Kendall - (female) black banded owl  
> Matt - (unknown) blue heeler cattle dog


End file.
